


Justice

by Illiteracy_is_for_woozles



Series: Legacy of the Hopeful [4]
Category: Children of Misfortune, Original Work
Genre: Acts of Kindness, Aftermath of Violence, Blood and Gore, Forgive Me, Gen, Gnomes, barbarian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 23:18:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15592986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illiteracy_is_for_woozles/pseuds/Illiteracy_is_for_woozles
Summary: Background for Nope Stitchcord, a forest gnome barbarian.





	Justice

**Author's Note:**

> This hurts. Very badly.  
> But I promise that Nope will be okay, eventually.

Forest gnomes have always been shy. Most people who “discover” them only do so to find out that they have been there for centuries, just living their lives and being generally good neighbors without your even knowing it.

That being said, Nope was… another level entirely.

The Stitchcord family was the lowest on the social ladder and the others in their community never let them forget it. If there was a job to do that no one else wanted to, the Stitchcords were the first names to be called.

The Border Forest wasn’t the safest place to live, either. Orcs and trolls lurked around every corner and Nope’s family was the go-to team to fend them off.

When she was 20 years old and left at home to wait for her family to return from one of these dangerous tasks, she watched the sun set and the village continue to go about it’s evening as if nothing was wrong. She was afraid for her family and enraged at the community for their indifference and by the time the sun had begun to rise the next morning, she had decided to do something about it.

Armed with her mother’s spare Morningstar and teal eyes as sharp as any blade, she began her trek into the forest. She blended in to the trees as well as she could, straining to remember every lesson she’d ever been given. A fight to keep her cool, she struggled to breathe through her nose through the stench of Death that only grew stronger as she followed the tracks left behind.

She knew what she would find, but it still felt like someone had carved open her torso and emptied it in one fell swoop. Her parents were the worst; crushed and mangled but still recognizable by their dented armor. Her older siblings had been impaled on tree limbs or thrown so hard into rocks that their small bones had shattered on impact.

Filled with rage and with nowhere to release it, Nope roared. She ran blindly through the forest and back to the hut, away from the horrifying scene, striking out at every unsuspecting gnome to cross her path. Once inside, she tore it apart, bashing everything in sight with her Morningstar uncaringly.

Hours later, Nope sat in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the splintered and shattered remains of her life.

Picking herself up and wiping away her tears, she packed up what she had failed to destroy and traveled north to the Tortured Lands, where no one would ever cause her to care for them again.

 

Years later, after living the life of a hermit for half her life, Nope traveled to the nearest small village for supplies and found something she hoped to never find again.

The town was completely inhabited by humans and they had no problem reminding you of that fact and how they wanted to keep it that way.

Nope was dealing with one of the vendors and keeping her anger in check quite well when she heard a commotion from down the street. Upon further investigation, (which she greatly reminded herself was a bad idea) she discovered that it was a young elf; a drow, to boot!

Some young men were throwing whatever they could get their hands on at her, only for her to pick up the offending items and return them with a smile and an apology if she was “offending them in any way.”

Nope lost control. She barreled up to the men, brandishing her Morningstar and screaming with rage. The men scattered at the mere sight of the small gnome barbarian, one running straight into a horse trough before splashing to his feet and running away.

As they ran, Nope turned to see the elf picking up the gnome’s discarded belongings. Her skin, naturally being a dark blue-grey, was mottled and cut in places where bottles had shattered over her, but her eyes shown with the smile she gave Nope.

Her name was Starlingale.

Nope (again, against her better judgement) offered to share a room at the inn until she had recovered, to which Starlingale readily agreed.

They grew close as friends and understood each other as if they had always known the other; where Nope was angry, the elf was patient. And where Nope was brute strength and easily seen, the young rogue could slip by unnoticed… most of the time.

Nope once asked Gale, as she had come to call her new friend, about her tattoos and was soon shut down. All she could get from her shield-sister (for she was that now) was that tattoos were symbols of renown in both her hometown and the guild that had adopted her as one of their own.

The gnome knew the look on her friend’s face well, as she had worn it herself whenever someone brought up her own past and swore an oath that as long as she lived she would fight to make sure that no one else needed to suffer as they had.

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, please give me suggestions and opinions. I'll also take requests. (I'm still trying to decide how I want to do certain things so requests are always helpful)


End file.
